The problem of safe and effective disposal of used fluorescent lamps has long been known. When fluorescent lamps are crushed, the mercury vapor as well as other vapors enclosed within the tube can be released to the atmosphere, and the fluorescent coatings on the inside of the tube, formed of phosphorous or other phosphors, may also be partially released to the atmosphere. In addition, when lamp waste is disposed of in landfills, residual mercury and phosphors may leach into the ground. The mercury vapor within the tube, any liquid mercury remaining in the tube debris, and the phosphor coatings may be environmentally hazardous and/or toxic materials.
As the potential for environmental damage from the disposal in landfills of fluorescent lamps (as well as other lamps which contain similar hazardous materials) has been more fully recognized, significant efforts have been made to dispose of the lamps in a manner which has less impact on the environment. Typically, facilities such as factories, schools, office buildings, and so forth which accumulate a large number of used or burned out fluorescent lamps are being required by environmental regulations to attend to the disposal of the lamps in an environmentally acceptable manner. As an alternative to the direct disposal of the lamps in existing landfills, the lamps may be transported from the facility at which the lamps were used to a central processing plant where the lamps are crushed and processed before being landfilled. Lamp reclamation operations have been established for the processing of fluorescent lamps in a manner which separates the hazardous powders and the mercury vapors from the glass of the tubes and the metal of the end caps and filaments before disposal. Such processing plants can produce crushed glass and metal debris which has been sufficiently cleaned of hazardous materials as to be acceptable for deposit in landfills or for possible recycling without posing a hazard to the environment. The accumulated hazardous and toxic materials, such as the phosphor powders and the mercury vapor, may be separately disposed of in manners which are approved for such more toxic materials.
The processing of fluorescent lamps as described above is environmentally desirable, but carries with it certain environmental risks as well as economic costs. The need to transport large volumes of used fluorescent lamps from the facilities at which they are generated to a central processing plant involves handling and transportation steps which inevitably leads to some breakage of lamp tubes and release of potentially toxic mercury vapor and other materials. In addition to the potentially serious environmental risk from lamp breakage, the collection and transportation of the bulky lamps from the facility at which they are generated to a central processing plant results in significant handling and transportation costs in addition to the cost of carrying out the actual crushing and separation at the central processing facility. These costs are borne by the facility that generates the fluorescent lamps, which makes disposal of the lamps by reprocessing often a more expensive route than direct disposal in landfills. Consequently, it is less likely that lamp reprocessing will be availed of where the facility generating the lamps has a choice as to the manner of disposal.
Systems have been proposed for crushing and processing fluorescent lamps at the site where the lamps are used, rather than at a central processing plant, but such systems are typically too expensive to be economically practical since they are generally used sporadically, and small and inexpensive processing systems usually do not efficiently separate glass from phosphor powders or thoroughly trap the mercury vapor released from the lamps.
Whether the lamps are landfilled or reprocessed, if fluorescent lamps are classified as hazardous waste they can only be transported by a licensed hazardous waste hauler, typically at greater expense than the transport of non-hazardous waste. Moreover, the facility which generates the used lamps may bear long term responsibility under environmental laws for the proper disposal of the lamps, including responsibility for improper handling and disposal of the lamps by waste haulers.